Viticulture and Winemaking

The most important decision you’ll have to make – one that you will have to live with for the life of your vineyard – is what varieties of grape to plant. But before we get into the different varieties, we should define a few terms. Variety – For our discussion variety means a sub-species of vitus

Courting wineries is a lot like lining up a date for the prom. Right now there aren’t enough Sonoma County grapes to go around and wineries have to compete for available fruit. Take advantage and drop by wineries to talk about your vineyard. You’ll get lots of free stuff and maybe a free meal or

Growing wine grapes is a business—a good business. Despite the uncertainties of the marketplace, unpredictability of the weather and the vagaries of farming, growing wine grapes can produce a good income year after year if the vineyard is well run and well marketed. Fortunately, once the vineyard is in the ground, the costs to operate

Once you find a property that fits your requirements, you can start evaluating that particular parcel—but what makes land suitable for a vineyard? This is a subject that people discuss for hours and hours. To start with, it is easier to say what land isn’t suitable for planting. Soils with slopes that exceed 50%. Soils